Thumbelina
by jappy13
Summary: Based on the tale of Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen. Ginny Weasley was the much loved and wished for child of Molly and Arthur Weasley. They had wished for her and had been given a daughter, although she was only the size of their thumbs. Growing up in a loving househol Ginny never imagined the adventures that lay awaiting her outside...
1. Thumbelina

**Hello dear readers. This is a little fic based on the fairy tale of Thumbelina in response to the 'Ever After: The Fairytale Challenge' posted by Romi Lawliet. I liked the idea of incorporating my beloved HP characters into the timeless classic of a fairytale and I was given the story of Thumbelina. For those of you who haven't read Hans Christian Andersen's story of the little girl as tiny as a thumb...well I highly recommend you google it. It's a classic story, and every self respecting reader should have a basic knowledge of the classic fairy tales that have shaped literature into what we know it to be today.**

**Obviously none of the characters are my own, they belong to Ms Rowling. The plotline is not my own either, obviously, as it belongs to Mr Hans Christian Andersen. However this modern adaption _is_ entirely mine and I hope you enjoy it!**

**Please please please review. I don't whether you like my writing unless you say so!**

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_There was once a woman who wished very much to have a little child, but she could not obtain her wish. At last she went to a fairy, and said, "I should so very much like to have a little child; can you tell me where I can find one?"_

_"Oh, that can be easily managed," said the fairy. "Here is a barleycorn of a different kind to those which grow in the farmer's fields, and which the chickens eat; put it into a flower-pot, and see what will happen."_

_"Thank you," said the woman, and she gave the fairy twelve shillings, which was the price of the barleycorn. Then she went home and planted it, and immediately there grew up a large handsome flower, something like a tulip in appearance, but with its leaves tightly closed as if it were still a bud. "It is a beautiful flower," said the woman, and she kissed the red and golden-colored leaves, and while she did so the flower opened, and she could see that it was a real tulip. Within the flower, upon the green velvet stamens, sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave her the name of "Thumbelina,"_

_- 'Thumbelina' by Hans Christian Andersen_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Thumbelina**

Molly Weasley stared in amazement at the bundle she held in her arms. Despite having been through this process four times before, the fact that she and Arthur's love had created such a perfect little human was as miraculous to her as it had been with her firstborn.

Baby Ronald shifted in her arms and Molly bent her head over so that she could breathe in the soft scent that is so unique to babies. She nestled herself back in her bed, comfortable in the familiar surrounds of her home at the Burrow. The midwife healer who had helped in the birth had stayed throughout the birth yesterday, but had been pleased that Molly had had such an easy birth. After five children it was hardly surprising that the labour had lasted only a short while, and Molly had never had any problems in having any of her children.

Arthur was downstairs, and Molly could hear the familiar shrieks of the children playing together. She loved hearing them play, each individual in their own way. And she much preferred them when they were audible in their games, rather than the uneasiness that came when any of her children were too quiet. Silence in this house tended to be a prediction of future mischief.

They had named Ronald after one of Arthur's ancestors, and Molly was grateful that their family trees had so many different male names to choose from. As the sixth son born into the family it had been a struggle to find yet another boys name for this new addition.

Molly wouldn't deny that she had hoped for a daughter, that she had eaten more dairy than ever before throughout her pregnancy and had given up her beloved morning cup of tea in hopes that there might be some truth to the old witch tales that were passed on from mother to dauther.

Nevertheless, she couldn't be happier to be holding a healthy baby boy. She bent over and kissed his head again, knowing that she would love this little boy just as much as any of her other children, and more than she could ever have thought she could love anyone.

* * *

Molly Weasley loved being a mother. She loved it with every inch of her being, in the very core of her bones. When she had married Arthur she had thought she was the happiest woman alive. When she had her firstborn she had realised she was complete. And with every new addition it seemed as it seemed as if she was given a missing piece of her life she had never known she lacked.

At one year of age Ronald Weasley had developed a possessive streak that Molly attributed to being the youngest of six boys. This morning she was trying every trick at her disposal to get Ron to hand over his cup so that she could fix it. He had cracked the side of the cup at some stage and now there was a trail of juice that had leaked along the floorboards and had dripped down his sticky arms and stained his top. She knew that she could use her wand to get the cup, but she tried to avoid using magic on her children if she thought it would upset them. She didn't like them to associate magic with unpleasant things at such a young age, and so she was crouched on the floor trying to swap Ron's favourite toy broomstick for the cup. However Ron was having none of it, and was clutching the cup to his breast as if his life depended on it, in the process spilling even more of its contents down his body.

She sighed. Having five older brothers had taught Ron that when he had something he loved he needed to cling to it dearly. Molly could hardly blame him for being possessive - the twins in particular seemed to take an unusual glee from tricking Ron to give up his playthings. Even so, sometimes she could only shake her head at her children's stubborness.

Giving up, and deciding to just leave Ron to himself and to deal with the mess afterwards Molly headed back to the kitchen where she had left a dough on the counter to prove. Although she could use magic to cook she preferred to use manual cooking methods as she thought there was a distinct difference in the end product. She fetched the flour from beneath the bench and set to work measuring out the cupfuls. She had an afternoon play-date at the park and had agreed to make the scones for the other mothers there. Everybody knew she made the best scones in the county and she took a special pride in serving up her baked goods each week at the park when the other mothers in the area came together to let their children play.

* * *

That afternoon she and the children made their way to the park, the boys running ahead to greet the other children and Ron fast asleep in his pram. She greeted the other mothers at the park bench and started laying out the scones and jam for their afternoon picnic.

It was always a pleasure to catch up with the other mothers and she settled on the bench and joined in the gossip. She and the others shared their motherhood woes and stories, and admired each other's children.

A new mother had joined the group, bringing her little girl to the park to play. Tamara was a six year old little witch with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked like a toy doll in her puffy pink dress and sparkled hairband. Molly smiled and crouched down next to Tamara to introduce herself, and Tamara shied away behind her mother's legs.

"She's a bit shy" said the newcomer apologetically, and Molly nodded in understanding.

"That's fine dear. Hello Tamara, how do you do? Would you like to see something special?" Molly asked the little girl, who nodded.

Molly smiled and drew her wand, making the flowers around them dance. Tamara, forgetting her shyness, laughed and came out from behind her mothers legs to dance amongst the flowers. Molly laughed too, and looked up at the mother with smiling eyes.

"I just love little girls! I have six boys of my own, but always wished I could have a little girl to dress up and play dolls with" she said, watching Tamara continue to swirl in her pretty pink dress.

The mother gave her an odd look, and Molly suddenly felt slightly uneasy, as if she had said something she shouldn't.

"I'm Marian" said the woman, holding her hand out to Molly to shake hands. Molly obliged, uncertain as to whether she had said something offensive.

"Molly" she said, standing up from her crouch and fetching the tray of scones to offer to the new addition to the party.

They stood for a little, watching Tamara who had become tired of the dancing flowers and instead had run off to play with some of the other children who were playing some type of role-play game, her own son Percy wearing a crown of daisies on top of his head with a brunette child who was dancing in a circle around him.

"You know" said Marian after a while of watching their children play, "Tamara is often too shy to play with strangers. I would like to repay you" she said, eyes never straying from her daughter.

Molly glanced sideways, taken aback by such a strange statement. She had never considered amusing a young child an act that needed repayment.

"Here" said the woman, delving into a little bag that was strung over her shoulders and pulling out a little parcel wrapped in ribbons.

"They're seeds" she explained, handing them to Molly. "Plant them in a pot, care for them, and I think you'll be surprised by what they grow."

Molly took the little package, taken aback by the exchange. She suddenly felt quite unnerved by the woman and made a show of looking at the sun to judge the time of day.

"Oh goodness!" She exclaimed, looking at the sky. "We've been here much too long! We have to get back as we have visitors coming. Boys!" she called loudly, and her sons looked up in her direction.

"Come along boys! We have to get going" she called.

Grumbling, the five boys gathered as Molly set the jam and now-empty scone tray back into the container at the bottom of the pram and made sure Ron, still sleeping soundly, was secure.

She wished the woman, Marian, goodbye and started making her way back across the park, waving at Tamara as she left. The little girl waved and then turned back to play with her other companions.

* * *

That night, after putting the boys to bed and waiting for Arthur to arrive home from work so that they could have their dinner, Molly found the little ribbon-bound package in her pocket.

She was still uneasy about that woman, but thought that she would plant the seeds and see what happened. She found an empty pot outside and set it on the kitchen windowsill, planting the seeds in the soil and giving them a little water. She smiled at her folly, but was curious as to what the strange woman had given her.

When Arthur arrived home Molly forgot to tell him about her encounter in the park, and listed as he told her about his day at the office, dealing with dancing toilet seats.

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning when Molly realised there were already leaves sprouting from the soil that she began to question her actions in planting the seeds. Living in a magical world meant that anything was possible, and she hoped she hadn't planted something dangerous like Devil's Snare.

Even so, over the next few days Molly took care to water the little seedling each day and was surprised at how quickly the little seedling turned into a flour. Of all the seeds she planted only one seemed to grow, but the flower it made was exceedingly pretty and Molly was very pleased with herself for putting it on the windowsill. Even Arthur noticed it one night when he arrived home from work, telling her that he liked the pink tulip-like plant she had found. She smiled secretly, not giving up her secret of its origin.

It was quite unexpected, then, when on the fifth morning of its bloom Molly began to trickle water onto the flower but stopped as it started to glimmer and bloom. Before her eyes the pink of the petals seemed to grow even more vibrant, and she watched as the petals unveiled themselves, uncurling from the centre of the bud.

Molly watched in awestruck silence as the flour spread its petals, because there, at the centre of the bloom, unveiled by the pink petals, was a miniature version of a little girl.

It was only as the little girl yawned and stretched, rolling over on the petals as she awakened from slumber, that Molly registered what was happening. The water cup from which she had been pouring the water dropped to her feet and shattered.

There, in the centre of the flower, was a real live little girl.

* * *

When Arthur arrived home that night to find his wife in a state of shock over a miniature girl, it was hardly surprising that he wasn't quite sure how to react. He, like his wife, had never heard of such a thing and neither knew whether this creature was a mythical animal or a miracle.

While they worried over the small thing the little girl slept on, and Molly had picked her up from the centre of the bloom and put her in a box cushioned with cottonwool. She didn't seem like a fairy who had wings from the moment of their birth, and pixies were much larger and had pointed chins and ears. Neither she nor Arthur had ever heard of any creatures being born from a flower, and Molly had floo-called her friends from her afternoon playgroup to enquire about the woman she had spoken to. What disturbed her even more was that none of the other mothers even remembered such a woman being present. When Molly spoke to them of the little girl Tamara, none of the mothers could remember such a child with a pretty pink dress and blonde hair.

She and Arthur placed the box with the sleeping girl by their bedside, and spent a sleepless night questioning how such a creature came to be. The following day Arthur took the box to work and questioned all the people in the Ministry about such a creature, but none had ever seen such a little girl nor heard of creatures being born from flowers.

In the end Arthur returned home none the wiser, and he and Molly spent the next day which was a weekend keeping a close eye on their children and on the box, unsure as to the effect this unknown may have on their own beloved boys.

* * *

On the third day of her slumber the little girl stirred once more, yawned, stretched her arms above her head and stood up in the box. Molly, who had been sitting at the table with a cup of tea contemplating the girl and wondering how such an unknown creature had come to have the exact same shade of red hair that was her family's trademark. Molly called quickly for Arthur who came running. Together they watched as the little girl, still waking and clothed in a wrap of petals, opened her eyes and stared at them.

The girl smiled, and Molly and Arthur could do nothing but stare back, dumbstruck.

"Hello" she said, in a voice that was a beautiful soprano.

"Hello" she said again when Molly and Arthur made no move to reply.

Molly was the first to stir. "Who are you?" she whispered. "What are you?" she asked the little creature.

"I'm a girl" said the little thing, looking down at herself and smoothing the petal wrap that she wore.

"At least I think I am. I don't know _who_ I am though. Maybe you could tell me?" she asked and both Molly and Arthur remained silent, unsure.

"I don't know. You were born from a flower that grew from a seed I was given" said Molly finally.

"Oh." said the girl. She seemed to take the news that her birth was from a flower as if it was a commonplace event.

"Then I supposed you are my mother" she said, looking up at Molly. "And you are my father" she said to Arthur.

Arthur and Molly looked at each other in shock.

Finally, they looked back to the little girl. A moment of understanding passed between them, and Molly held out her hands to the little girl who stepped daintily onto them.

Molly brought the creature closer to them, holding them towards their faces.

"I suppose I am" she said in a whisper.

"And I shall call you Ginny" she said to the little girl whose face broke out into a grin and she plopped cross-legged onto Molly's palm.

"Well then!" she said happily.

"Hello mum! Hello dad!" she grinned.

Molly and Arthur grinned back.

* * *

Over the next few years Ginny found herself in a home full of love. She was treated with the same loving kindness that Molly showed to all her sons. And the boys were exceedingly gentle with her, despite their rough and tumble play with each other. Even Ron, the smallest, progressed through his toddler years with some underlying sense that Ginny was never to be manhandled.

Even so, their gentle treatment of Ginny didn't stop her from playing with her brothers. In true Weasley fashion Ginny turned out to be a most ingenious prankster. Together with the twins, Fred and George, Ginny played neverending pranks on all her family. Nobody was immune from their games, and Ginny's ability to get past the smallest of spaces, and underneath the most solid doors, leant her a distinct advantage in this area.

Even Fred and George were often tricked by their very little sister, finding themselves on the end of itching powders and eggs in shoes as well as the hundreds of other ways Ginny found to put her pranking skills to good use.

And Molly didn't mind in the slightest. She was so grateful to have such a loving family, and to have a daughter, that she let all the fun and games slide by. She reprimanded Ginny along with the boys whenever anybody went too far, and the entire family knew the extent of Molly Weasley's famous temper. But Molly never tired of sewing tiny outfits for her daughter. She constructed a miniature kingdom for Ginny, with toy trains and magical flying machines and a garden of flowers for Ginny to make home.

And Ginny was extremely happy in her newfound family, never feeling like an intruder amongst the large people around her. She did cause her parents some worry when it didn't seem as if she would age at all, but after seven years it seemed as if this eternal timelessness wore off, and she began to age in her tiny form. By the time Ronald was eleven and heading off for school at Hogwarts Ginny looked like a miniature ten year old, and her parents had begun to speak to the teachers involved at the school to look into enrolling Ginny the following year.

This meant, however, that Ginny had an entire year at home before she would see her brothers again. And although she loved her mother and father dearly she felt extremely excluded that she had to stay at home with them while her brothers were off having all sorts of adventures at school away from home.

It was perhaps because of this feeling of being left out that led Ginny to spend more and more time out of doors. And it was because she was spending so much time out of doors that Molly began to take Ginny with her whenever she left the house to run errands. Molly was very aware of the dangers that lurked in the garden for someone as tiny as Ginny.

So Ginny was taken to the markets, to friend's houses, to the Ministry to see her father, and anywhere else that Molly needed to go. Molly and Arthur's friends had always been aware that they had a miniature daughter, but none had met her as often as they did now. She became a regular feature at her mother's tea parties and visits to friends houses.

It was at such a tea party that Ginny was unfortunate enough to be introduced to Dolores.

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please review!**


	2. The Toad

**Hello again dear readers! I hope you are enjoying remembering your childhood fairytales. I still remember watching the cartoon movie Thumbelina when I was a little girl. My baby brother loved it so much we watched it over and over hundreds of times! I'm quite sure if I were to watch it today I would still remember the words to the songs...ahh, sweet childhood memories.**

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**Chapter 2: The Toad**

...

_ One night, while she lay in her pretty bed, a large, ugly, wet toad crept through a broken pane of glass in the window, and leaped right upon the table where Tiny lay sleeping under her rose-leaf quilt. "What a pretty little wife this would make for my son," said the toad, and she took up the walnut-shell in which little Tiny lay asleep, and jumped through the window with it into the garden._

_In the swampy margin of a broad stream in the garden lived the toad, with her son. He was uglier even than his mother, and when he saw the pretty little maiden in her elegant bed, he could only cry, "Croak, croak, croak."_

_"Don't speak so loud, or she will wake," said the toad, "and then she might run away, for she is as light as swan's down. We will place her on one of the water-lily leaves out in the stream; it will be like an island to her, she is so light and small, and then she cannot escape; and, while she is away, we will make haste and prepare the state-room under the marsh, in which you are to live when you are married."_

_Far out in the stream grew a number of water-lilies, with broad green leaves, which seemed to float on the top of the water. The largest of these leaves appeared farther off than the rest, and the old toad swam out to it with the walnut-shell, in which little Tiny lay still asleep. The tiny little creature woke very early in the morning, and began to cry bitterly when she found where she was, for she could see nothing but water on every side of the large green leaf, and no way of reaching the land. Meanwhile the old toad was very busy under the marsh, decking her room with rushes and wild yellow flowers, to make it look pretty for her new daughter-in-law. Then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf on which she had placed poor little Tiny. She wanted to fetch the pretty bed, that she might put it in the bridal chamber to be ready for her. The old toad bowed low to her in the water, and said, "Here is my son, he will be your husband, and you will live happily in the marsh by the stream."_

_'Thumbelina' by Hans Christian Andersen_

...

Dolores Umbridge was a toad. At least in Ginny's opinion she was the most toad-like woman she had ever seen. When she told her mother that Molly had laughed until she had no air left in her lungs and then had reprimanded her daughter for the insult.

Umbridge was a podgy middle aged woman who worked at the Ministry of Magic with Ginny's father, although not in the same department. She was invited to a tea party that Molly attended with Ginny and it was there that Dolores met Ginny for the first time.

Ginny was used to people being taken aback at her appearance. She couldn't blame them. Who knew better than herself how unusual such a tiny person was! But Dolores reaction was different from any that Ginny had experienced before. It was one of total disgust. When Dolores looked into Molly Weasley's hands where Ginny sat comfortably on her mother's palm Dolores had shrieked in a high pitched wail that had knocked Ginny flat.

It had taken several ladies who rushed to sit Dolores down and fan her and give her a glass of water before the toad would look at Ginny again, and when she did Ginny had been taken aback by the look of revulsion in the toad woman's eyes.

Dolores had smiled then, and said that Ginny was 'adorable'. And Molly, always willing to believe the best, had thanked her for the compliment. Ginny had curtsied, but underneath she knew that Dolores didn't think Ginny was 'adorable' or 'precious'...underneath Dolores thought Ginny was an abomination.

It was surprising to Ginny then that Dolores became a regular visitor at the Burrow. Molly was also taken aback, because she had never before been friends with the woman and was hesitant in becoming close to someone who said all non-humans were animals and deserved to be treated as such. Molly rather liked people like Hagrid, the half-giant, or Remus Lupin the werewolf. And she felt uncomfortable when Dolores voiced these opinions. Nevertheless, Molly was nothing if not a true hostess, and accepted Dolores visits with open arms.

Dolores would sit and drink tea, trading stories from the Ministry with Molly. And Ginny would sit on the table enjoying the crumbs of her mother's baking, always keeping a wary eye on the toad.

...

It happened one night just before the Christmas break. Ginny had been eagerly anticipating the coming holidays as her brothers would all be coming home from Hogwarts and she had missed them terribly. She hadn't let her time go to waste though, and had a whole host of ideas to share with the twins. Fred and George had been sending her letters about their adventures at Hogwarts and the three of them conspired on ways to prank the teachers and ways in which they could achieve their mischief.

There were only a few weeks to go until there return, and Ginny was sitting near the Burrow's fireplace. It had been freezing weather recently, the snow had begun to fall, and Ginny took comfort in the warmth of the flames. Often her mother would set her up with an ember of her own and she could get close to the ember to warm herself, rather than risking a falling twig from the fireplace.

It was a surprise to Ginny when suddenly the flames in the fireplace picked up, burning the sudden purple of a floo call. She fell back when suddenly Dolores Umbridge appeared in the flames, and she opened her mouth to yell for her mother when Dolores' pudge fist came down upon her, cocooning her in its sweaty depths.

She could hear her mothers steps start on the stairs, but knew there was not enough time for her mother to reach the bottom to see who had come through the floo. Before she knew what was happening she had been taken back through the fireplace and she found herself suddenly in Dolores Umbridge's living room, clutched in the toady woman's fist.

Umbridge grinned down at her, and Ginny screamed and kicked and tried to pinch the awful woman's hands. But such tiny fists inflicted little pain on the woman, and Dolores laughed an awful high pitched titter as she took her into another room, a bedroom of some sort, and plopped Ginny roughly down into a cage.

Ginny stood up, still yelling abuse at the larger woman, running to the edge of the cage to clutch at the bars that imprisoned her. Umbridge crouched down so that her face was at the same level as the tabletop and stared at Ginny.

"Well now little Ginny. How do you like your new home? The Weasleys are a kind family, a magical family, and they don't see you for what you really are. But I do. I know you're an evil animal, trying to corrupt our world, corrupting our magical families.

I don't know what your plan is, and I don't know what sort of animal you are, but until I do I'm going to keep you there. And you _will_ tell me what your plan is, and where you're from."

Ginny looked in horror at the woman, her jailor. She had no idea what the madwoman was on about! She was just a girl! A very small, very tiny girl, but a girl all the same!

Dolores smirked.

"And until you tell me your purpose here, I'm going to give you to my nephew" she said, an evil smile creeping up her face.

"He's been pestering me for a pet, a rat or something. But I think you're much cleaner than a rat, and I think he'll be very pleased with you indeed" she said.

Ginny backed away from Dolores, horror stricken at her predicament.

The next thing she knew there was a small pudgy boy with an unmistakeable toad-like familiarity. He grinned at her. Ginny guessed he was about seven or eight years old.

"Hello Ginny! Aunty D tells me you're my new pet and that you can talk! Can you talk to me Gingin?" he asked.

Ginny opened her mouth, dumbstruck. No sound came out and instead it looked as if she were silently screaming.

"Come on!" said the boy more forcefully, putting his podgy fingers into the cave and poking Ginny with enough force that she fell down hard onto the ground.

"Talk!" he demanded again.

Ginny looked at him, unsure what she should do. Finally she drew a deep breath and curtsied to the fat pig of a boy.

"Hello" she said in as sweet a voice as she could muster. "How do you do?"

The boy grinned at her, and Ginny plastered her face with a smile that she hoped he would not see masked the seething anger beneath.

He laughed and prodded her again.

Ginny got up from the floor after being knocked down once more and repeated her little curty, cursing under her breath as she did a little twirl inside the cage.

She was trapped. She was caged. She wanted her mother.

...

Months passed as Ginny was kept by Henry, Dolores' nephew. His mother had come down with an illness and Dolores was caring for Henry while his mother was at St Mungos.

Through evesdropping Ginny could hear the conversations that Dolores had with visitors in her kitchen, and more than once she heard her own mothers' voice. But no matter how hard she screamed and banged objects around her cage nobody heard her. Her voice was just too little to save her.

And so she became used to performing for Henry, her new master. Dolores bought him dolls clothes to dress Ginny in, although Ginny firmly put her foot down and demanded to dress herself behind the little box that served as a dressing room.

He played with her as a child plays with a toy, and Ginny played along. She thought he was an odd boy, and she was petrified of the way that he manhandled some of his toys. So she did her best to please him, playing in the dolls house he put her in, going along with the games he played.

Her chance of escape came one day as he was setting up a wedding that was to be between herself and his pet rat Jeeves. She thought Jeeves was disgusting, and sometimes when Henry put Jeeves in her own cage she had to climb to the very top of the cage to escape the brute.

But today Henry had decided that she was to wed the rat, and she was put in a big white fluffy gown and Henry tied a bow around Jeeves neck.

When Henry put Ginny out of her cage and went about setting Jeeves up for his role as groom Ginny decided she had had enough. With nothing but adrenaline flowing through her she took off like a rocket, hoping that Henry would be too preoccupied with getting Jeeves to cooperate to notice her escape. She made it to the door which had, thankfully, been left slightly ajar. She took off down the long hallway and, when she heard Henry's cry of alarm when he realised his prisoner had escaped, she ducked into the first room she came to.

It was the bathroom, and Ginny's eyes were immediately drawn to the half-open window above the toilet. She looked around her, knowing that she would only have a little time before Henry searched the bathroom and found her.

She eyed the curtain round the bathtub suspiciously, trying to judge whether it would hold her weight. Deciding to risk it she tried to clamber up, but had forgotten about her enormous gown and became tangled in her own dress almost immediately.

Frustrated she ripped off the dress, and in just the bloomers underneath she started to make her way up the curtain (she had thought bloomers went out of fashion in the 1800's so had been somewhat horrified when she had been forced to wear them that morning. Now, however, she was exceedingly grateful for the old-fashioned dolls clothes Henry gave her.)

She managed to get to the top of the curtain rail, and when she heard Henry fling open the door she hid herself behind the top of the curtain, hanging onto a ring as tightly as she could. He flung the curtains along the bath rail, and Ginny almost screamed in terror as she clung to the curtain ring as it flew down the rail.

Disappointed, Henry slammed the door shut and Ginny again started her journey towards freedom. She leapt from the curtain rod to the windowsill, and managed to grip the edge of the sill before pulling herself through the window. It was snowy outside, and she wasn't keen on diving into the snow. However knowing what lay behind her Ginny took yet another leap of faith as she jumped off the window, and landed cushioned by the snow beneath her.

Immediately she was drenched in icy water, and this time she couldn't hold back her cry as the ice chilled her. She scrambled up onto the surface of the snow, grateful for her small size and light weight which enabled her to sprint across the surface of the snow without sinking. She reached the edge of the garden and saw, suddenly, her chance for freedom. There was a basket sitting at the edge of the footpath, and Ginny recognised it from Henry's visits with Dolores to the Malfoys.

Narcissa Malfoy was a pureblood lady and often held galas in her families grand mansion. Dolores, although a pureblood by birth, was from a very poor branch of purebloods and was driven by an incessent desire to climb the social ladder. Ginny thought it was rather obvious that nobody in their right mind would even believes Dolores would gain status in society, however despite this Dolores was determined. She would visit Narcissa Malfoy regularly in the mansion, often bringing Henry on the visits where Henry would be forced to sit on the couch and eat cookies served by the Malfoy house elves. Ginny, usually smuggled in by Henry in his pocket, would peek out over the top and stare gobsmacked at the opulence of the mansion's interior.

Dolores usually offered to do menial tasks for Narcissa in hopes of rising in her favour. Often Narcissa would give her the invitations to make for the balls that Narcissa held. Dolores was very proud of her calligraphy and took this task as one of utmost importance. When Narcissa came to the Umbridge household on the rare occasion it was always to pick up the things that she had tasked Dolores to do.

And so Ginny could not believe her luck when she saw, sitting at the front of the front garden path, the woven basket that Narcissa Malfoy collected her party errands in. Ginny knew that inside it would be the piles of party favours, the invitations, decorations, table settings, and countless other items that Narcissa deemed 'necessary' for her infamous parties.

Ginny, knowing that such chances are often fleeting, started into a sprint across the snow covered garden, vaulting into the basket just as she heard Narcissa bid Dolores goodbye from the front door. Ginny tucked herself beneath an envelope and was jolted as Narcissa picked up the basket.

The next thing Ginny knew she felt like she was being squeezed through a tunnel the size of a grapefruit by a hook in her navel...and then there was silence. She felt the basket be set down on the ground and she heard footsteps head away from where she was hidden.

Peeking out of the top of the basket she could see that she was in a room similar to the one she had sat in with Henry before. She hitched herself up over the side of the basket and toppled to the ground, then made a dash towards the nearby couch behind which she decided would be a perfect hideaway until she had regained her bearings.

She dove behind the couch just as somebody entered the room. Ginny peeked from behind and watched as Narcissa removed her mittens and overcloak and stood by the fire warming her hands.

"DOBBY!" shouted Narcissa, and Ginny gave a startled breath as a house elf appeared from mid-air.

House elves were the servants of great households, and although they were small in relation to the wizards they served they were still giants to someone the size of Ginny.

Narcissa ordered the house elf to pack away the things she had brought home and the elf swivelled its head towards the basket, and then turned its wide eyed gaze onto Ginny. Ginny stared back, frozen in place. The house elf waggled its ears as if in a greeting and, to Ginny's utter amazement, gave an almighty wink before picking up the basket and disappearing once more with a pop.

Ginny watched for a while longer as Narcissa continued to warm herself, and then took a seat on one of the couches and opened a book, settling back into the cushions to read.

Ginny settled down herself at the back of the couch, hugging her legs. She was freezing in her soaked petticoats and she felt miserable and frightened. She wanted desperately to go home, back to her comfortably little bed of cottonwool and scraps of quilt in the warm and friendly environment of the Burrow. More than anything Ginny wanted her mother.

She felt tears staining her cheeks and swiped at them. She hated crying, it always made her feel weak. She buried her face in her knees and took deep breaths until she had calmed down, and then decided she would have to wait until later that night to escape the room.


	3. The Cockchafer

__**Here we go. It's been such a long time I updated that I thought I had better put two chapters up in a row!**

**Hope you're still enjoying it. Please read and review.**

_..._

**Chapter 3: The Cockchafer**

_..._

_"Presently a large cockchafer flew by; the moment he caught sight of her, he seized her round her delicate waist with his claws, and flew with her into a tree. The green leaf floated away on the brook, and the butterfly flew with it, for he was fastened to it, and could not get away._

_Oh, how frightened little Tiny felt when the cockchafer flew with her to the tree! But especially was she sorry for the beautiful white butterfly which she had fastened to the leaf, for if he could not free himself he would die of hunger. But the cockchafer did not trouble himself at all about the matter. He seated himself by her side on a large green leaf, gave her some honey from the flowers to eat, and told her she was very pretty, though not in the least like a cockchafer. After a time, all the cockchafers turned up their feelers, and said, "She has only two legs! how ugly that looks." "She has no feelers," said another. "Her waist is quite slim. Pooh! she is like a human being."_

_"Oh! she is ugly," said all the lady cockchafers, although Tiny was very pretty. Then the cockchafer who had run away with her, believed all the others when they said she was ugly, and would have nothing more to say to her, and told her she might go where she liked. Then he flew down with her from the tree, and placed her on a daisy, and she wept at the thought that she was so ugly that even the cockchafers would have nothing to say to her."_

_'Thumbelina' by Hans Christian Andersen_

...

Not long had passed since Ginny had settled down to wait when the house elf, Dobby Ginny thought his name was, silently popped out of the air in front of her. She startled and stood up quickly, and Dobby lifted a finger to his lips in a silent warning. She nodded, and then Dobby gently picked her up and before she knew it she was no longer in the living room with Narcissa Malfoy reclining in a parody of marble reading her book. Instead she was in what appeared to be the kitchen. She could see several other elves working, one was peeling potatoes and one was stirring a large pot on a stove from which Ginny could smell the most glorious aromas.

She looked at her saviour who was staring down at her once more with that wide eyed gaze.

"Thankyou Dobby" she said.

The house elf bowed its' ears in acknowledgement and set her on the counter.

"Little Miss was in danger of being seen" he said to her with gravity.

"Little Miss would do well to stay away from such places if she is to be staying here in the manor. Dobby does not know Little Miss but thinks she would like to stay as a guest?" he asked her. Ginny nodded.

"But they can't know I'm here" she told him. "If they find me they'll squish me. I want to go home to my parents, Molly and Arthur Weasley" she said.

Dobby nodded. "Dobby knows the Weezles but Dobby cannot speak to them. The Weezles do not have house elves and Dobby would be in much trouble if he were to seek them out without his Master's favour" Dobby said, nodding rapidly as he spoke.

Ginny smiled. "Dobby is a great elf to help me" she said. "Friends?" she asked, holding out her hand to the elf.

He stopped nodding and looked at her, his eyes widening. Ginny had a horrible moment where she thought she had offended him before Dobby burst into tears.

"Dobby is a house elf Little Miss. Little Miss is a pureblood Weezle and is far above the likes of me" he said, agitated.

Ginny put her arms out to soothe him. "Dobby, don't cry." she said. "I know you're a house elf. It's just you're such a good house elf that I would like to know you better" she said, hoping to stem the tide that Dobby was releasing.

Dobby sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, then gave her an almighty smile.

"We must find Little Miss some bedchambers that suit her" he said, nodding happily once more. And then he picked Ginny up and set up a comfortable space for her in a corner of the kitchen. Ginny suspected that it had once been the home of a cat, but Dobby assured her that the cat that had once lived there had been taken 'for Master's use' a while ago.

Ginny wasn't wholly relieved by that statement.

Nevertheless, she was extremely happy to have her freedom back once more, to have access to a warm blanket and warm food, and to have somebody to talk to her as another person and not as a companion to a rat.

Ginny made herself comfortable in the Malfoy kitchen. The other elves took to feeding her tidbits, and she helped the female elves in their delicate handiwork that the Malfoys assigned them. Things like finely threading the decorations for the ball were made so much easier when one was the size of a human thumb.

And as the months passed Ginny was grateful for the shelter from the freezing winter outside. She knew that once Hogwarts had finished the younger Malfoy, Draco, would return home. Until then she had free reign of the kitchen and the lounge room and much of the house, as Narcissa and Lucius were hardly there during the day and only used one side of the house unless they were entertaining guests.

...

When Draco returned at the end of his first year of Hogwarts his parents hosted an elaborate feast. Ginny helped the elves decorate the cake with intricate decorations and then watched as it was taken into the dining room and admired by all the guests.

Draco was a pale little boy, the same age as her brother Ron. He had blonde hair and striking blue eyes and hardly ever seemed to smile. Ginny thought he looked like a prat, and imagined that her brothers would have had a grand time seeing what expressions that perfect pale face could make.

It wasn't until several weeks after Draco had returned that Ginny had the misfortune to be caught in a pixie trap that Draco had been making for a school project. And although she shouted and screamed none of the elves came to her rescue, and before long the one thing she had been dreading this whole time came to be. Draco Malfoy caught little Ginny Weasley like a cat catches a mouse.

Ginny stared in mute horror as Draco descended upon her, and watched in terror as his enormous hands grabbed her from his trap. She wasn't silenced for long. She remembered all too well what it felt like to be captive, and she fought him tooth and nail and even fancied she had managed to scratch him enough to make him bleed.

But Draco didn't let her go. Instead he carried her to his room and put her in a glass.

She stared at him from behind the glass, hands on hips, and gave him her most terrifying glare. He smirked at her, and she itched to wipe the smirk off his face.

"Ginny isn't it?" he asked her.

Ginny glared back.

"Yes, I had heard the Weasleys had lost their pet rat" he said.

Ginny narrowed her eyes, wishing she was old enough to use magic on him. Her mother had given her a splinter of wand once to see if she was magical, and sure enough it had sparked at her touch. Her mother had then told her that she would only send her to Hogwarts once all the boys were there to protect her.

"I'm not a rat" she said, lifting her chin in defiance of this overlarge prat.

Malfoy laughed and then lifted the glass and its contents up and poured Ginny into a cage he had sitting on his desk. Ginny toppled in, knowing that she was bound to get bruised in the process.

"I haven't ever seen anything like you" he told her.

"I think I'll keep you here for a bit, I've never had a pet and I think you'll do quite nicely."

Ginny glowered.

...

Over the next week Ginny did her best to annoy Draco, hoping that he would tire of his toy and let her go. She sang loud bawdy songs that she had learnt from her brothers all through the night to keep him from sleeping. She teased him relentlessly for everything he did in her sight, from the clothes he chose to wear to the fact that his mother still tucked him in at night.

Draco was unphased by it all. Even when Ginny thought she may have broken through the porcelain mask of dignity, when an insult touched too close to home perhaps, he would open his mouth as if to reply and then pause. He would hesitate, eyes narrowed in suspicion, and then would close his mouth and continue as if the barb had never happened.

It was infuriating.

FInally, after seven days of nonstop harassment, Ginny gave in. She decided she would try the phrase her brother used some times; _If you can't beat them, join them_.

Ginny sat in her cage and waited for Draco to reappear in the room, returning from whatever activities had called him away. When he returned he went to his desk and started to move the piles of books around, apparently reorganising his already pristine workspace.

"So how was Hogwarts?" Ginny asked him from where she sat.

Draco looked over at her, waiting for the follow-up insult. It never came.

"Seriously Draco, if we're going to be roommates we should know a bit more about each other. How was Hogwarts? What were the teachers like? Did you meet my brothers?" she asked him.

"Obviously you're in Slytherin" she said, gesturing towards the snake emblem that he had pinned above his bed. "What's that like, I have only ever heard about the Gryffindor common room".

Draco seemed to accept that she had no insults for him and sat down at his desk, putting his chin in his hands so that he could see her better.

"Well...what do you want to know?" he asked her.

Ginny looked at him.

"Everything."

...

Draco began to love his little captive Ginny. He enjoyed sitting and telling her everything that was going on in his life, and Ginny would listen attentively and offer suggestions that were, more often than not, quite helpful.

He had always enjoyed having pets, all his family owls could attest to that. But having a live walking talking person at his beck and call was more than he had ever hoped for.

And Ginny began to enjoy their talks, at least they gave her information from the outside world. She began to see another side of Draco Malfoy that she supposed most people didn't get the chance to see.

But it didn't stop her from plotting her escape every moment of the day.

The problem was that Draco kept her locked in a very secure cage, and unlike Henry, Draco was fastidious and organised. He would never play 'weddings' with Ginny and leave her unattended. The chance of a similar escape was next to none.

So Ginny made the best of her circumstances and tried to befriend the young Malfoy. And, to an extent, she succeeded. She found she enjoyed their banter and exchange of insults. He and Ginny would trade barbs with smiles, and she liked his dry sense of sarcastic humour.

And the summer rolled on with Ginny beginning to enjoy her time as a prisoner. It had almost been an entire year since she had last seen her mother, and although she missed her dreadfully she had resigned herself to a possible future of captivity.

It wasn't until the end of the holidays that things changed for Ginny Weasley once more.

...

Draco was hosting a back-to-school party with his peers. He had invited several of the more prominent families in the pureblood hierarchy and they would come and spend the night at Malfoy Manor.

Ginny had agreed to be nice to the guests, and although she knew they would all be Slytherins she held some hope that one of them would pity her and set her free.

But when the day came and Draco's guests arrived Ginny realised there was no chance of freedom.

The four pureblood heirs came into Draco's room with all the air and grace of one who has been born to privilege and knows it well.

"I've got something cool to show you guys" Draco told them, leading them to the desk where he kept Ginny in her cage. He had covered her cage with a blanket so that he could unveil her to his guests.

"I found her here at the manor" he told them, before whipping off the blanket from Ginny's cage and revealing Ginny, who curtsied to the guests and bit her tongue to prevent any unwanted remarks from escaping.

"AAGH" screamed one girl who fell back in horror. She had a large pointed nose and small pouted lips.

Draco laughed but then stopped when he saw similar looks of horror on his other three guests.

"Draco, what _is_ that?" asked a large boy who was staring in horror at Ginny.

Ginny suddenly felt very conspicuous in her doll clothes that Draco had unearthed for her. She raised her chin in an attempt to seem more confident than she currently felt.

"_It_ is a girl" she told him, "and _She_ had a name. Ginny Weasley" she said, giving another curtsy to the crowd.

"Draco, that's disgusting" said another boy, looking in revulsion at Ginny.

Draco looked at him in confusion. He had never thought Ginny was _disgusting_!

"You can't keep an abomination here, it's gross" said the girl who had been the one to scream at the first sight of Ginny in her cage.

Draco looked at Ginny, trying to see what the others were talking about.

"Abomination? She's just a little girl, she's my pet" he explained.

The others were looking at him in horror.

"Draco, you _cannot_ keep this as a pet. It's against the laws of nature!"

Draco looked at Ginny again in confusion. He was torn between the comments of his peers and his affection for his caged Ginny.

"But, why not?" he asked again.

"Draco" said the third guest, a girl who had blonde hair and large brow eyes and was looking at Draco with something that seemed to be, at least, slightly more understanding than the others.

"Draco, this creature is not an average magical creature. It's an abomination as Blaise said. It's not _right_ to keep such a thing, what if it contaminates you with its freakishness? How would you even know?" she said to him gently, as if coaxing a toy from a small child.

Draco looked at Ginny, he didn't want to lose his pet girl, but he didn't want to lose his place amongst his fellow witches and wizards either.

"So what do I do?" he asked them.

The blonde girl crouched down and examined Ginny thoroughly. Ginny crossed her arms about her chest, feeling exposed to the scrutiny.

"I think, it's summer, so we should release it into the wild" the blonde girl said, standing up once more.

"It's not like it's winter where it wouldn't be able to fend for itself, it should be fine outdoors now"

Draco looked at Ginny, and Ginny could see by the look of regret on his face that she was about to be, finally, released from captivity.

She nodded again and bobbed another curtsy. The blonde girl wrinkled her nose in disgust.

...

Ginny ran. She ran faster than she had ever run in her entire life. She ran away from the five pre-teens who were watching her go from the edge of the wood. They had deposited the cage at the brink of the woods that lay behind Malfoy Manor and had opened the door. Ginny didn't need to be told twice to get out of there as quickly as possible.

She vaulted over twigs and leaves, heading for the middle of the forest. She would find her way out of there at some stage, but for now she knew she needed to get as far away from the blonde Malfoy heir as possible. She feared that he would change his mind and come looking for her.

She ran and ducked and weaved until she, finally out of breath and with legs that felt wooden, collapsed in exhaustion beneath a pile of leaves at the base of the tree.

It was only then that she realised exactly where she was and what danger she had placed herself in.

She was the size of a human thumb, any creature could mistake her for a woodland mouse and gobble her up.

She had never been so scared in all her life, and she curled herself into a ball beneath the leaves and concentrated on breathing.

Ginny drifted into an unsettled sleep beneath the leaves, with dreams of woodland rats and monsters behind her lids.


End file.
